Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
All of the examples of faith-filled living in this 11th chapter of Hebrews are people who believed what God told them about their unseen future. And yet, they lived as though they could see it and hear it!
Abel offered “a better sacrifice” because he knew a greater reward was in his future.
Enoch walked with God like a friend.
Noah prepared for rain and for a flood.
Abraham saw his descendants living in their own land.
Sarah prepared to have a baby when she “was past childbearing age” and her husband was “as good as dead.”
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, and Jacob blessed Manasseh and Ephraim’s future descendants, as they saw them perpetuating Abraham’s family line.
Joseph planned for the exodus.
Moses’ parents saw him as a national leader.
Moses saw a kingdom greater than Egypt.
The Israelites saw dry ground where there was a vast ocean and a rushing river, and collapsed walls where there was there was an impassable city.
Rahab believed in the true God.
“There were others who were tortured”; “the world was not worthy of them”—“they were too good for this world” (v. 38 in the NLT).
But they were more “commended for their faith” than anyone who may have received accolades while on this earth.
Their commendation was, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness forever!” (see Matthew 25:21, 23, 34).
“Some faced jeers” but then heard the cheers of the “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1) and the applause from nail-scarred Hands!
Reading these faith-filled biographies prompts me to search my motivations—
What do I see? Am I too focused on the here and now?
What do I hear? Am I motivated by earthly cheers and discouraged by earthly jeers?
May my eyes see and my ears hear what God has promised. May my faith be confident in hope of what God has promised and assured about what I do not see or hear with my natural eyes and ears. Instead, may I see promises fulfilled and hear the joyful shout of, “Well done!”
►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎
Craig T. Owens 